Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Theologia Orthodoxa Journal 68/1 , 2023
Over the second half of the sixteenth century a new form of
monasticism, idiorrhythmia (“living a... more Over the second half of the sixteenth century a new form of monasticism, idiorrhythmia (“living according to one’s own devices”), seemed to be spreading across the Orthodox monasteries of the Eastern Mediterranean. The communal regime practiced for centuries in the venerable monasteries of the East was gradually collapsing: first at St. Catherine’s on Sinai around 1557, then at the monasteries of Palestine, including the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem. When the patriarchs of Alexandria (Sylvester [1569-1590]) and Constantinople (Jeremiah II [1572-1579; 1580-1584; 1587-1595]) came together to celebrate Christmas at Thessaloniki in 1573, Sylvester was tasked with travelling to Mount Athos to investigate the state of the monastic life there. His inquest revealed a shocking state of affairs: monks moving without hindrance to and from Athos and engaging in the sale of goods to the outside world, including spirits which they drank themselves. Beardless youths and laypersons lived in monasteries; livestock were allowed to pasture on the Holy Mountain. This contribution will examine Patriarch Sylvester’s inquest and the subsequent effort to restore communal life at the major monasteries on Athos.
SESSION 1 BYZANTIUM AND 13TH CENTURY PROSOPOGRAPHY Ekaterini Mitsiou | Austrian Academy of Scienc... more SESSION 1 BYZANTIUM AND 13TH CENTURY PROSOPOGRAPHY Ekaterini Mitsiou | Austrian Academy of Sciences/University of Vienna BRIDGING THE GAP: TOWARDS A PROSOPOGRAPHY OF THE LASCARID PERIOD (PLAS) The first half of the 13th century has attracted much attention as a transformative period for the Eastern Mediterranean. The capture of Constantinople (1204) changed the dynamics of the entire region through the formation of new states and socioeconomic changes within the former Byzantine territories. Three “Byzantine” states “in exile” emerged by members of the aristocracy, the “Empire of Trebizond”, the “State of Epirus” and the most successful among them, the “Empire of Nicaea” (12041261). In the historical discourse, the Nicaean Empire has been analysed in various ways. The most persistent method was the collection of the information given by written and material evidence and its presentation in a narrative. Despite its positive aspects, this traditional methodology does not suffice to an...
Die Frage nach der innergemeindlichen Konfliktlosung von Muslimen in Byzanz wird durch die Tatsac... more Die Frage nach der innergemeindlichen Konfliktlosung von Muslimen in Byzanz wird durch die Tatsache kompliziert, dass Muslime den Status einer anerkannten nicht-orthodoxen Minderheit im byzantinischen Recht bzw. politischen Denken nie erreicht haben. Im Gegensatz zu den ubrigen Minderheiten im ostromischen Reich bemuhten sich weder der Staat noch die Kirche um eine Klarung, welchen Platz Muslime im gesellschaftlichen Gefuge einnehmen sollten. Das Rechtssystem reflektierte im Wesentlichen die Sicht der spatromischen Gesellschaft des 6. Jahrhunderts: Es sah fur anerkannte Gruppen von Nichtorthodoxen – d. h. Juden, (christl.) Haretiker und Heiden – eigene Kategorien vor, nicht jedoch fur Muslime. Die „Basiliken“ („kaiserlichen“ [Gesetzbucher]), eine im 9. Jahrhundert angefertigte und hellenisierte Fassung des Corpus Iuris Civilis, sowie deren bis ins 12. Jahrhundert verfassten Scholien, verlieren kein einziges Wort uber Muslime. Aber auch bei spateren Vertretern des weltlichen und kanonischen Rechts blieb der Status der im Reich ansassigen Muslime unklar. Die byzantinischen Theologen hingegen gaben die einflussreichen Ansichten des Johannes von Damaskus und des Niketas von Byzanz uber den Islam wieder und tendierten dazu, Muslime als Anhanger einer haretischen Sekte zu betrachten, die christliche, judische und v. a. heidnische Elemente in sich verband. Erst im 15. Jahrhundert entstanden in Byzanz Texte, die den Islam als eine eigenstandige Religion behandelten.
This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies ( ends ). Besides lay... more This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies ( ends ). Besides laying out the scope and goals of the periodical, it also charts the broader arc of historical scholarship on endowments. More specifically, the development of the research on foundations is summarized in four fields, namely Medieval Studies, Byzantine Studies, Islamic Studies and Indology. Furthermore, a general vocabulary for the core features of foundations is also proposed.
Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Theologia Orthodoxa Journal 68/1 , 2023
Over the second half of the sixteenth century a new form of
monasticism, idiorrhythmia (“living a... more Over the second half of the sixteenth century a new form of monasticism, idiorrhythmia (“living according to one’s own devices”), seemed to be spreading across the Orthodox monasteries of the Eastern Mediterranean. The communal regime practiced for centuries in the venerable monasteries of the East was gradually collapsing: first at St. Catherine’s on Sinai around 1557, then at the monasteries of Palestine, including the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem. When the patriarchs of Alexandria (Sylvester [1569-1590]) and Constantinople (Jeremiah II [1572-1579; 1580-1584; 1587-1595]) came together to celebrate Christmas at Thessaloniki in 1573, Sylvester was tasked with travelling to Mount Athos to investigate the state of the monastic life there. His inquest revealed a shocking state of affairs: monks moving without hindrance to and from Athos and engaging in the sale of goods to the outside world, including spirits which they drank themselves. Beardless youths and laypersons lived in monasteries; livestock were allowed to pasture on the Holy Mountain. This contribution will examine Patriarch Sylvester’s inquest and the subsequent effort to restore communal life at the major monasteries on Athos.
SESSION 1 BYZANTIUM AND 13TH CENTURY PROSOPOGRAPHY Ekaterini Mitsiou | Austrian Academy of Scienc... more SESSION 1 BYZANTIUM AND 13TH CENTURY PROSOPOGRAPHY Ekaterini Mitsiou | Austrian Academy of Sciences/University of Vienna BRIDGING THE GAP: TOWARDS A PROSOPOGRAPHY OF THE LASCARID PERIOD (PLAS) The first half of the 13th century has attracted much attention as a transformative period for the Eastern Mediterranean. The capture of Constantinople (1204) changed the dynamics of the entire region through the formation of new states and socioeconomic changes within the former Byzantine territories. Three “Byzantine” states “in exile” emerged by members of the aristocracy, the “Empire of Trebizond”, the “State of Epirus” and the most successful among them, the “Empire of Nicaea” (12041261). In the historical discourse, the Nicaean Empire has been analysed in various ways. The most persistent method was the collection of the information given by written and material evidence and its presentation in a narrative. Despite its positive aspects, this traditional methodology does not suffice to an...
Die Frage nach der innergemeindlichen Konfliktlosung von Muslimen in Byzanz wird durch die Tatsac... more Die Frage nach der innergemeindlichen Konfliktlosung von Muslimen in Byzanz wird durch die Tatsache kompliziert, dass Muslime den Status einer anerkannten nicht-orthodoxen Minderheit im byzantinischen Recht bzw. politischen Denken nie erreicht haben. Im Gegensatz zu den ubrigen Minderheiten im ostromischen Reich bemuhten sich weder der Staat noch die Kirche um eine Klarung, welchen Platz Muslime im gesellschaftlichen Gefuge einnehmen sollten. Das Rechtssystem reflektierte im Wesentlichen die Sicht der spatromischen Gesellschaft des 6. Jahrhunderts: Es sah fur anerkannte Gruppen von Nichtorthodoxen – d. h. Juden, (christl.) Haretiker und Heiden – eigene Kategorien vor, nicht jedoch fur Muslime. Die „Basiliken“ („kaiserlichen“ [Gesetzbucher]), eine im 9. Jahrhundert angefertigte und hellenisierte Fassung des Corpus Iuris Civilis, sowie deren bis ins 12. Jahrhundert verfassten Scholien, verlieren kein einziges Wort uber Muslime. Aber auch bei spateren Vertretern des weltlichen und kanonischen Rechts blieb der Status der im Reich ansassigen Muslime unklar. Die byzantinischen Theologen hingegen gaben die einflussreichen Ansichten des Johannes von Damaskus und des Niketas von Byzanz uber den Islam wieder und tendierten dazu, Muslime als Anhanger einer haretischen Sekte zu betrachten, die christliche, judische und v. a. heidnische Elemente in sich verband. Erst im 15. Jahrhundert entstanden in Byzanz Texte, die den Islam als eine eigenstandige Religion behandelten.
This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies ( ends ). Besides lay... more This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies ( ends ). Besides laying out the scope and goals of the periodical, it also charts the broader arc of historical scholarship on endowments. More specifically, the development of the research on foundations is summarized in four fields, namely Medieval Studies, Byzantine Studies, Islamic Studies and Indology. Furthermore, a general vocabulary for the core features of foundations is also proposed.
The contributors in the edited volume »Ambassadors, Artists, Theologians: Byzantine Relations wit... more The contributors in the edited volume »Ambassadors, Artists, Theologians: Byzantine Relations with the Near East from the Ninth to the Thirteenth Centuries« examine the complex dynamics which arose between the Byzantine Empire and the Near East.
Moving beyond the tradition of histoire événementielle, the contributions collected here highlight the passing of artistic practices, ideas and interlocutors between Byzantium and the Islamicate world. In this way, this volume seeks to nuance and contextualize our understanding of the relationship between these two medieval cultural spheres.
This social history of Byzantine law offers an introduction to one of the world's richest yet hit... more This social history of Byzantine law offers an introduction to one of the world's richest yet hitherto understudied legal traditions. In the first study of its kind, Chitwood explores and reinterprets the seminal legal-historical events of the Byzantine Empire under the Macedonian dynasty, including the re-appropriation and refashioning of the Justinianic legal corpus and the founding of a law school in Constantinople. During this last phase of Byzantine secular law, momentous changes in law and legal culture were underway: the patronage of the elite was reflected in the legal system, theological terms from Orthodox Christianity entered the vocabulary of Byzantine jurisprudence, and private legal collections of uncertain origins began to circulate in manuscripts alongside official redactions of Justinianic law. By using the heuristic device of exploring legal culture, this book examines the interplay in law between the Roman political heritage, Orthodox Christianity and Hellenic culture.
This social history of Byzantine law offers an introduction to one of the world's richest yet hit... more This social history of Byzantine law offers an introduction to one of the world's richest yet hitherto understudied legal traditions. In the first study of its kind, Chitwood explores and reinterprets the seminal legal-historical events of the Byzantine Empire under the Macedonian dynasty, including the re-appropriation and refashioning of the Justinianic legal corpus and the founding of a law school in Constantinople. During this last phase of Byzantine secular law, momentous changes in law and legal culture were underway: the patronage of the elite was reflected in the legal system, theological terms from Orthodox Christianity entered the vocabulary of Byzantine jurisprudence, and private legal collections of uncertain origins began to circulate in manuscripts alongside official redactions of Justinianic law. By using the heuristic device of exploring legal culture, this book examines the interplay in law between the Roman political heritage, Orthodox Christianity and Hellenic culture.
Review of Ludwig Steindorff and Olivier Auge (eds.). Monastische Kultur als transkonfessionelles ... more Review of Ludwig Steindorff and Olivier Auge (eds.). Monastische Kultur als transkonfessionelles Phänomen. Beiträge einer deutsch-russischen interdisziplinären Tagung in Vladimir und Suzdal’. Berlin: Oldenbourg Verlag 2016. ISBN: 978-311-037822-1; IX, 446 S
The participants in this workshop will give presentations exploring the relationship between weal... more The participants in this workshop will give presentations exploring the relationship between wealth and Mount Athos. A particular emphasis will be laid upon discussion and how new avenues of research might nuance or change scholarship's understanding of the Holy Mountain's economic role throughout history.
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monasticism, idiorrhythmia (“living according to one’s own devices”), seemed to be spreading across the Orthodox monasteries of the Eastern Mediterranean. The communal regime practiced for centuries in the venerable monasteries of the East was gradually collapsing: first at St. Catherine’s on Sinai around 1557, then at the monasteries of Palestine, including the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem. When the patriarchs of Alexandria (Sylvester [1569-1590]) and Constantinople (Jeremiah II [1572-1579; 1580-1584; 1587-1595]) came together to celebrate Christmas at Thessaloniki in 1573, Sylvester was tasked with travelling to Mount Athos to investigate the state of the monastic life there. His
inquest revealed a shocking state of affairs: monks moving without hindrance to and from Athos and engaging in the sale of goods to the outside world, including spirits which they drank themselves. Beardless youths and laypersons lived in monasteries; livestock were allowed to pasture on the Holy Mountain. This contribution will examine Patriarch Sylvester’s inquest and the subsequent effort to restore communal life at the major monasteries on Athos.
monasticism, idiorrhythmia (“living according to one’s own devices”), seemed to be spreading across the Orthodox monasteries of the Eastern Mediterranean. The communal regime practiced for centuries in the venerable monasteries of the East was gradually collapsing: first at St. Catherine’s on Sinai around 1557, then at the monasteries of Palestine, including the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem. When the patriarchs of Alexandria (Sylvester [1569-1590]) and Constantinople (Jeremiah II [1572-1579; 1580-1584; 1587-1595]) came together to celebrate Christmas at Thessaloniki in 1573, Sylvester was tasked with travelling to Mount Athos to investigate the state of the monastic life there. His
inquest revealed a shocking state of affairs: monks moving without hindrance to and from Athos and engaging in the sale of goods to the outside world, including spirits which they drank themselves. Beardless youths and laypersons lived in monasteries; livestock were allowed to pasture on the Holy Mountain. This contribution will examine Patriarch Sylvester’s inquest and the subsequent effort to restore communal life at the major monasteries on Athos.
Moving beyond the tradition of histoire événementielle, the contributions collected here highlight the passing of artistic practices, ideas and interlocutors between Byzantium and the Islamicate world. In this way, this volume seeks to nuance and contextualize our understanding of the relationship between these two medieval cultural spheres.